Marlins focused on catching Phillies, not Rockies

With three weeks left in the season, the Marlins are more focused on catching the division-leading Phillies instead of the wild-card leading Rockies. Why? They've got six games left against the Phillies and the Rockies control their own destiny.

Manager Fredi Gonzalez said his team was scoreboard watching in New York Thursday night and wincing as the Phillies rallied with five runs in the ninth before falling against the Nationals.

Cody Ross said the Marlins believe their previous calls might be what ultimately puts them over the top.

"It seems like everytime this point in the year we find ourselves in the same spot and hopefully now that we have had those experiences and a couple games under our belts we can prosper this year and move forward instead of the other way," outfielder Ross said.

"We fell short the last couple years and that's not a good feeling. Nobody in here the last couple seasons after the year was over was saying that was good run, nice going. That's not what we're about. We want to go out and we want to play in October."

IDENTITY THEFT: Even professional baseball players can fall victim to identity theft.

Reliever Kiko Calero is the latest. The Marlins reliever received an unexpected phone call from an Arizona state detective Thursday asking him to identify himself after police stopped a man on Phoenix freeway who presented a fake Puerto Rican driver's license with Calero's name on it.

The 41-year-old man, identified by an Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman as a Mexican citizen, was pulled over for having a low tire. When he presented a license and social security card with Calero's digits, authorities quickly became suspicious.

Fingerprint confirmation and a criminal history check identified the driver as Oscar Corral. He was arrested for possession of forged documents.

Calero said he had his wallet stolen while he was living in Puerto Rico in 2000, but never called social security because he thought nothing was going to happen. "This was the first time anybody used my identity that I know of," Calero said. "Now, there could be more than one person who bought or copied my ID. It's going to be a headache. But I've been told I'll be ok."

> Chris Volstad will start Sunday in place of Rick VandenHurk. Fredi Gonzalez, however, was non-commital about starting Volstad after Sunday.